Economy, Weiner Top Public’s News Interests
Mitt Romney is clearly the candidate the public says they are hearing the most news about, while mentions of Sarah Palin have plummeted over the past two weeks.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Mitt Romney is clearly the candidate the public says they are hearing the most news about, while mentions of Sarah Palin have plummeted over the past two weeks.
While the focus this year has been on the GOP’s race, Democrats express about as much interest in 2012 candidates as do Republicans.
While the media devoted attention to the arrest of the IMF chief, the public had little interest. But a majority have heard a lot about Schwarzenegger’s troubles.
While the media pivoted to Libya, the public did not follow, keeping their focus on the crisis in Japan. Americans give the press high marks for their coverage of the Japan disaster and Libya conflict, but have little praise for media coverage of economics and politics.
Americans like the idea of their government promoting democracy in other nations. But democracy promotion has historically lagged far behind other objectives among the public’s long-term foreign policy goals.
In the U.S. and around the globe, the spread of nuclear weapons is seen as a major threat, but not overwhelmingly so. Those concerned, however, look to the U.S. for leadership.
Public interest in the Middle East conflict is on par with other recent foreign news stories, but is lower than in the Israel-Hezbollah war in August 2006. A slightly greater percentage say the media have not been critical enough of Hamas than say the same about coverage of Israel (30% vs. 25%, respectively).
A bloody new chapter in the Israel/Palestinian conflict dramatically shifted the news agenda from domestic to foreign crises, dominating media attention in an otherwise crowded week of news.
Presidential challengers — and the ultimate winner — will face a public that is disillusioned, downbeat and partisan about foreign affairs but far from clear about what it wants done.
Race, ethnicity and politics can sometimes make for a volatile mix, but a poll finds that race relations in this country are on a pretty even keel.
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